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I get emails quite often from people who dream of moving aboard a boat. Here is a typical email with my response to his questions. NOTE: Long post here.

Questions from an emailer:

“I am thinking of doing what you have done. My wife and I are 49 yrs oldnot rich but have a little money to put towards a boat. I told her lastnight I just wanted to sell everything and move on a boat. Then allthese questions popped up. May I bother you with questions about cost,weather, problems incurred, etc.

We live near Raleigh, NC, had have access to the Inter-coastal waterway,and the East Coast. I have always wanted to go to Ireland, and wasjealous of the photos you posted. How was your trip to Ireland? How longdid it take you, and what if anything would you have taken or changedthat would have made the trip better? When living on a boat what cost isinvolved when traveling, like anchorage fees, etc. I am thinking of asloop, or similar sail powered vessel. Between 30′ and 40′ in length.Are you comfortable and what is it that you miss about living on land?

Thanks for your blog!!”

My Response:

First of all, there is a saying that you are going to hear more andmore as you look into the possibility of moving aboard a boat – thatis: ‘Just Do It!’ (Thanks Nike) More than anything that I could tellyou, that is the best piece of advise that I could give. The thingsthat you mentioned like weather, cost, etc. are just nagging doubtsthat are trying to stop you from ‘just doing it.’ Moving aboard aboat is not hard – it’s just different – and as much as we get set inour ways as we get older, humans are good at one thing: and that isadapting. You will end up, like us, just figuring things out as yougo along. That, in itself, can be a bit stressful, but in the end youwill have the joy of looking back and saying to yourself, ‘look atwhat I’ve accomplished!’

There is one other topic that I would urge you to do some real soulsearching about before you take the plunge. That is, your marriage.How strong is your bond with your wife – how much does she really wantto participate in this adventure? Living aboard a small boat meansthat you really cannot get away from each other – your bedroom is alsoyour living room which is also the kitchen which is also the bathroom,etc. More marriages have been ruined by moving aboard a boat – justlook at all the boats for sale in Florida. Talk with some of thesales people down there and they will tell you story after storybroken marriages and busted dreams. Husbands sort of hanging aroundtrying to sell the boat while the wife flies home to try to findnormalcy in her life again. Read some of the stories that are outthere about the conflict that couples go through when living in aconfined space. Then have a face to face with Mrs. about how you aregoing to deal with these conflicts when they arise (and they willarise – believe me.) My wife and I are very fortunate. We have astrong bond together and we have much in common. Our hopes and dreamsare very close to being the same – certainly close enough that we bothfeel that living on a boat is fulfilling those dreams. We bothunderstand each others roles in our relationship and are careful tolet each other have the space and freedom to act in those roles. Inshort, we are a good team – not all marriages are like that.

On to some of the specific things you mentioned.

Weather is not an issue. Other live aboards may tell you differently,but for us we simply became more aware of the weather around us. Whenstrong winds are predicted we would make sure the lines were tight.If there was lightening in the forecast we would often just try to beaway from the boat at the time. You will make changes as you becomeaware of the weather around you, but it is not a big issue for us.

Problems: hey, stuff happens. What can I say? You will figure itout. Try to plan for the common eventualities and then just reactwhen things happen. There are lots of books out there that will tellyou how to make your boat safe in various situations – follow thosedirections and you are half way there to solving your problems.Remember the old adage: ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound ofcure.’ Basically, we have the same number of problems as when welived in a house, the problems are just different. Don’t let the fearof the unforeseen stop you from moving aboard.

Cost: That is a tough one for me to answer. You can live on a boatreally cheap. If you choose sail over power, it is even cheaper. Youcan also spend a lot of money living on a boat. If you take a slipevery night and fall into the habit of eating out instead of makingyour own meals you can spend a fortune. We are sort of middle of theroad. Our slip is quite cheap and we eat out maybe 2 times a week.That is enough for us – but there are others here at the marina whonever eat out, don’t own a car and really live on little money. It ishard to compare costs with living on dirt – they are really just toodifferent. However, here in Toronto, I would say that the cost ofliving on a boat is less than half of what it would cost to live ondirt. It’s not hard to figure out what your fixed costs will be, justfigure them out and build in a buffer for the unexpected and you willhave a good idea of what it will cost you.

Just for the record – we did not sail to Ireland. We flew – that wasa family trip. I would love to sail to Ireland and may do it someday.I have not sailed outside of Lake Ontario so I cannot properly answerany questions related to cruising like that. There are lots of othersonline with blogs who are cruising who could give you some ideas onthat.

Power or Sail: I am partial to sail as I am on a sailboat. However,there are some definite advantages to living on a powerboat especiallyif you do not have any boating experience. In many ways powerboatsare more like cars – you sort of just point them in the direction youwant to go, give it some gas and off you go. Sailing is a wholedifferent ballgame – I would not say that it is harder, but thelearning curve is a bit steeper. If cost is an issue, go with asailboat – the wind is free.

Between 30′ and 40′ is probably the most common size for the majorityof live abaords. Of course some live on smaller boats and many liveon larger – but for the most of us, who are not made of moneysomewhere between 30 and 40 is the way to go.

Are we comfortable? That is probably the hardest question for me toanswer. Yes – we are completely comfortable yet in many ways I missthe comforts that come with living in a house. I do all the samethings that I ever did, I sleep in my bed, eat at the table, watch TVafter supper, work at my job, read books – everything. The onlydifference is that I do all those things while occupying the same 50sq feet. I can’t leave something out to come back to it later becauseI need the space for the next thing that I want to work on. I guess Imiss space. Does that make my stay here uncomfortable? I suppose,but not enough for me to give up living aboard. My wife and I tend totake the view that the world is our backyard. When you look at itthat way, I have all the space I could ever want. Even though we havegiven up space, the trade off is freedom. Freedom to pick up anchorand move anytime, anywhere we want. The freedom to put the boat onthe hard and go somewhere else. The freedom to change my neighboursif necessary. I think the trade off is worth it – you may or may not.

Ok – that’s it for now – let me know if you have anything else youwant me to ramble on about.

Take care and remember, Just Do It!

Strathy

"So You Want to Live On A Boat?" by strathy was published on February 12th, 2007 and is listed in Uncategorized.

Comments on "So You Want to Live On A Boat?": 10 Comments

Anonymous wrote,

Strathy

here I sit in Palm Beach, looking at your boat in the snow and remembering one winter I spent at the Pt Credit Yacht Club on a boat.

Think what you are doing is great. At the moment we are ashore as is the boat. Like many people, we stopped cruising for elderly parents and hope we can return to the sea before we become elderly ourselves.

Will be happy to answer any questions. I taught sailing at Humber for several years, was a professional sailor for 20+ years with 10 trans-Atlantics and a few other ventures. Now occasionally doing boat surveys and dreaming of future voyages

Reading your site has really firmed up our resolve to live aboard. We’re in Tennessee on The River, but we’re looking at buying a 38-to-41 footer and moving to the Gulf coast. So thanks for taking the time to do this, and we’ll be opening our own blog once we get the deed done. Gotta sell a house and all that first.

Our biggest concern is…not knowing how to sail! But I’m sure we can learn from the other live-aboards around us. We’re eager to get good at it, Katie will cook for anyone and everyone, and I can fix stuff, mechanical and electrical.

I no longer Envy. I’m not rich or poor, but happy. I’m 31 and single with a small dog and for him and I our dreams is to own a 42′ Sport Boat. The thought of having a 360′ view of ocean is a rich man’s dream without the $10,000 mortgage you would pay here in Newport Beach, Ca..I’ve worked hard to get to this point. Now Its becoming a reality….There would be nothing better then coming home to Dewey (my little pup) and to watch a good movie on the ocean. 🙂 Well friends and some who are thinking of living on board, this would be the closest to paradise! Live life, Live Longer!!!!!

me and my wife are 51/53 years old. we live in n.j. and wanting to retire in florida.thinking about buying a boat and liveing on it. just the thought of this makes us happy.no, we never owned a boat but enjoy freedom very much! your site is very informative to us.where in florida is the tough question as some parts are very exspenive.i will do more research and thank you for your site.MR.&MRS.ROESCH.

We are in our early fifties. My husband is determined to get us on a boat in the open sea. I have soooo many questions regarding insurance, income, pirates, ability to live in close quarters. I am adjusting to down size and being confined to small spaces. Still have issues with income and insurance. As much as I don’t want to die in the sub burbs I am hesitate to give up comfortable life for adventure life. Where do I go from here?

My wife and I are in our early 30s and have two kids. Our current plan is to continue living on land until the kids have both graduated high school(another 8 years) and then when they are out on their own, we’ll go out on our own. We’ll sell the house(we don’t have a mortgage, so that helps) and use the money from the sale to get ourselves a boat. I may try to find someplace I can learn sailing properly so we can get one powered by wind, but if not, then we’ll just go the power route. My wife tends to get wanderlust, so the idea of being able to just move along to another place when we want to is very much appealing.

I owned and raced a Columbia 30 in central California for 10 years. When my sailing partner and wife lost a health battle, I kept with it for a few years and even moved onto the boat for about 6 months in a marina where the boat was slipped. Though it was a short stay, I have to admit that it was the most relaxing time of my life. Everything was small on a 30 compared to a house or condo, and I couldn’t really keep all my suits aboard her, but Good News made me happy as I worked my way through some trying times. I had a household in storage for a year or so. I sold her as I moved on and now have her photos. I still pay her a visit every time I make it back to the area. I guess the bottom line is, that if you want to do the boat thing, know that it’s less space… that you need to be well-connected in your relationship… or just single… to relax and enjoy your stay. No mortgage… no landline…no utilities… just relax and say you live on a boat.

People who choose to live on a boat have many different reasons for doing so and it’s estimated that approximately 15,000 people in the UK live afloat. It’s not just in tranquil locations either.

Many will, of course, choose to live on peaceful canals and rivers surrounded by nature and rolling countryside yet equally there are those who prefer to stay in a busy marina or harbour, live on the coast or even stay permanently moored up in the heart of some British cities which are renowned for their canal systems.